2 suspects arrested in attack on 3 brothers in Snohomish

SNOHOMISH -- Two people were arrested Thursday for an apparently random attack on three brothers who were tossing around a football and a Frisbee in a Snohomish field two nights before.The youngest brother, 13, escaped. The two others, 22 and 23, suffered serious injuries. They were hit with a tire iron and a metal baton, and were slashed and stabbed with knives. One suffered a collapsed lung and remained hospitalized Friday.Detectives arrested a 27-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, both from Snohomish. A Snohomish County judge set bail for $100,000 for each of them Friday in Everett District Court.The arrest reports say they also are somehow involved in a murder case in King County. That case remains under active investigation, King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said. Additional details weren't released Friday, The motive for the Snohomish attack is unknown, Snohomish Police Chief John Flood said Friday. The brothers did not recognize the suspects. The brothers have no connection to drug activity, and neighbors said they often saw the young men playing football together in the field near Snohomish High School on summer nights, the chief said.Both young men could have died without medical attention, detectives wrote in court papers.The suspects reportedly made some statements about someone getting "jumped" before, as if the attack were motivated by revenge, records show.There's no evidence the victims were involved in any incident like that, Flood said."We don't exactly know what they were referring to when they said that," he said.Snohomish police worked the case alongside the sheriff's major crimes detectives. "Within two days, we had two people in custody," Flood said. "That's great teamwork."They developed information about the couple because the man reportedly said something to the victims about dealing with the cops recently after a fight with his girlfriend.A Snohomish detective reviewed domestic-violence reports and found an incident involving the couple earlier the same night as the attack. They also live near the field.The man also is being held on suspicion of a separate assault after allegedly choking the woman earlier this month. A bloody knife and bloody clothes were collected from the couple's home, according to the arrest reports and lawyers' statements in court Friday. A baton and a tire iron were found in the backseat of the woman's car.The woman has no criminal history. The man has some history, mostly in King County. No charges have been filed in the King County murder case, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor's office there.Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

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